Average rating of 3.5 stars

*reviews are listed in order read, not book order*

☆One thing that I found to be missing from the audio version, was the intros by the author at the start of each story. Some of these are important to fully understand the story and/or how they relate to the song.

One Cruel Wedding Night, by KA Linde -narration by: Erin Mallon/SebYo. 3 stars. 1-10%, pgs 7-47. For some reason, I didn't like the writing on this one, and yet I still thought the good was story. I love an arranged marriage, and it was nice to read one where they weren't mortal enemies.

Goner (3) Fiona Cole - narration by: Ava Erickson/JF Harding. 3.5 stars. 15-24%, pgs 69-102. Part of the Voyeur world, it was nice to see characters that I knew, but not necessary to have read the rest of the series. This story was super hot and steamy, with some voyeuristic scenes and some FF mixed in, but ends with a very possessive Hero. I'd love to see this one extended.

Heist (4), by Nana Malone - narration by: Mari. 3 stars. 24-32%, pgs 105-135. Characters from Royals Undone series, with pop-ins from other books as well. Story itself was okay, but probably would've been better had I known these characters and their backstory.

Five Golden Rings, by Claire Contreras - narration by: Elena Wolfe/Gomez Pugh. 4 stars. 33-39%, pgs 138-162. I really liked this one, which is surprising as it's kind of an instalove story, and I typically hate those. The story stands alone, but I would love to see it extended so we can have more of these two.

On the Sixth Day, by Nikki Sloane - narration by Desiree Ketchum. 4 stars. 39-46%, pgs 164-188. Bonus scene from The Architect. I would be very interested in going back to read this throuple's backstory. The steam level was high and there was some off-page heartbreak that I want to know more about. There is some light MM, which I absolutely needed there to be more of.

Swan Song (7), by Giana Darling - narration by: Stephen Dexter. Not Rated. 46-58%, pgs 191-237. Prequel to The Fallen Men series. I am 100% sure that I didn't pay attention while listening to this story, so I'm not rating it, or including it in the average until I do a reread. From what I can tell, even though I have no interest in the rest of this series, this story seems like it would be right up my alley - I love hackers!

My Present This Year (8), by Sierra Simone - narration by: Madame Wu/Kaz Vadim. 5 star. 58-67%, pgs 240-272. My favorite of the anthology so far! It stands alone as its own story, but would happily read an extended version, just to get more of Nick and Nora.

Nine Ladies Dancing, by CD Reiss - narration by: Joe Arden. 2.5 stars. 68-77%, pgs 275-308. Well, the author did warn the readers about this one, at least in the ebook version (not in the audio). I think my biggest problem here was that I had no idea what was going on, or how it related to the song it was supposed to be based on. People were screwing robots, or people they thought were robots, or robots they thought were people. I think this one might have been better received if there had been some sort of introduction to this world, let us readers know if perhaps this is a future time, or parallel universe or whatever, instead of just dropping us into what felt like an already started story.

Ten Dirty Demands, by Laurelin Paige - narration by: Paul Woodson. 3.5 stars. 78-84%, pgs 310-334. Characters from Dirty Filthy Rich Men,, which I have not previously read. I really liked the idea if this story, even though I am not a fan of the BDSM dynamic (it's pretty light here.) I can see myself giving it a higher rating if it were longer because this one just seemed to stop when I thought it was getting good.

Gift Me (11), by M. Malone - narration by: Lacy Laurel/Ron Butler. 4 stars. 84-94%, pgs 336-371. This is by far the sweetest story of the bunch. Still good steam level, though. And it was another that felt like a complete story, as well as one that was brand new and not a continuation of already established characters. Which I love to see in anthologies.

Twelve Drummers, by Angelina M Lopez - narration by: Scarlett Hayes. 3.5 stars. 93-99%, pgs 375-395. I was a bit confused by this story at times, but still found it to be really good. And VERY steamy.

Two Turtle Doves, by Skye Warren. (read, not listened to) 2.5 stars. 10-15%, pgs 51-66. This was more of an epilogue than a story, and it was wrapping up characters from 3 books that I haven't read and 1 that I have. So while it was written well, I wasn't invested in it, and mostly found it boring. I feel like reader who have read these previous books (The Pawn, The King, Escort and Survival of the Richest) might enjoy seeing these people again. I also didn't really see a correlation to the 12 Days song line that was assigned, other than the dad sang it to his kids, but there were other lines used there too, so it didn't stand out as being related to the Doves.

7 people found this helpful

Too many prequels, epilogues and Xmas specials

Pros: I found one or two new authors and narrators to look up. There were some good shorts and a few hawty-nawty scenes.

Cons: Anthologies work best for me when the shorts stand alone, but it felt like half the shorts were connected to the authors’ series… and true enjoyment depended on being familiar with the series
(and I was not familiar with any of them). Also, some had virtually no story and just existed to get dirty.
A fair number were filthier than I care for, with words that fizzle the sizzle for me (c_nt, j_zz, vaJ-J… ick!). For all the variety of kink, most of the ladies were young, skinny white girls, which was disappointing. Where are the curves? the career women? the ebony gals?

Roadmap, to see if these might float your boat:
1 One Cruel Wedding Night, KA Linde - marriage for $, hateFs with lots of GDs & Cts 🌶
2 Two Turtle Doves, Skye Warren - Xmas baby special from series, pregnancy shower scene and author’s thing for scrawny white girls, teenage narration, and “I’m not worth this powerful, rich man’s love” angst. Least favorite short.
3 Goner, Fiona Cole - insta-smut at Club Voyeur, related to a series, multiple partners. 🌶
4 Heist, Nana Malone - unplanned voyeurism, furry foursome, and a heist stuffs too much in and yet leaves too much out. Series related, I think and maybe M or F are black?
5 Five Golden Rings … on a Ck, Claire Contreras, May/December insta-love with girl’s music mogul crush
6 On the 6th Day, Nikki Sloane - straight to the MFM throuple/dom kink, with a side of holiday meet-the-parents story. Not my kink, but hotly written/narrated. 🌶
7 Swan Song, Gianna Darling - heavy on hacking, dark web, and criminal underworld themes, appears to connect to a series.
8 My Present this Year, Sierra Simone - taboo romance with stepsister.
9. Nine Ladies Dancing, CDReiss - West World meets Twilight Zone as rich girl introduces guy to her robot filled mansion and the nooky test of humanity? Trippy, yet engaging. 🌶
10 Ten Dirty Deeds, Laurelin Page, prequel or epilogue of a series? Billionaire dom with random baby talk.
11 Gift Me, M Malone - gives best comedy and cute, and possibly some chocolate flavor? 🌶
12 Twelve Drummers, Angel Lopez, fantasy, animal-beings, multi-partner, Latin ritual, non-stop nooky.

3 people found this helpful

Great Anthology & Great Cause!

It's not often that we are treated to audiobooks for Anthologies! Such a wonderful surprise. And the proceeds from this anthology go to the Trevor Project (The Trevor Project provides 24/7 crisis support services to LGBTQ young people).

So many great stories from so many amazing authors! These stories were the standouts for me:
1. Goner by Fiona Cole
2. On the Sixth Day by Nikki Sloane
3. 10 Dirty Demands by Laurelin Paige
4. My Present this year by Sierra Simone

Excellent narration by Erin Mallon, Sebastian York, Kylie Stewart, Ava Erickson, JF Harding, Mari, Elena Wolfe, Gomez Pugh, Desiree Ketchum, Stephen Dexter, Madame Wu, Kas Vadim, Joe Arden, Paul Woodson, Ron Butler, Lacy Laurel& Scarlett Hayes.

Thank you to all the authors, narrators & producers for giving your time to this project!

2 people found this helpful

Awesome compilation of stories!!!

I am not a huge compilation fan because I always want more than I get in the short stories. However, almost all of these stories are excellent and will be some that lead me to new authors!

The narrators… they are excellent!!!

1 person found this helpful

A great collection of hot holiday cheer!

Based on the Twelve Days of Christmas song, each author has written a story for each of the days in the song. The stories range from steamy to very hot in a variety of genres. The authors and narrators are some of my favorites. The stories were fantastic, and I absolutely loved this concept. There were a couple authors I had never read before, but I'll definitely be checking out their catalogs. The same with the narrators I got to hear for the first time.

If you like some heat with your holiday tales, I highly recommend this. Bonus, the proceeds for this book goes to the Trevor Project, who focuses on suicide prevention.

1 person found this helpful

Not what I thought

Struggled to finish. FF thru A LOT! Some stories didn't seem to stay on track! Don't think I'll get another book like this!

Holiday Treat

This is a treat to your ears. So many authors and narrators - all with very different stories to keep you entertained. It's 11 hours but each story is right around an hour so you can listen here and there and not be interrupted.

Great Anthology

This collection of stories has different levels of naughtiness and steam. From low to high. This was perfect to turn the heat up in this cold weather. While I loved some stories, there was one or two stories that I got a bit confused while listening. The ones that standout were: One Cruel Wedding Night by KA Linde, Heist by Nana Malone, Goner by Fiona Cole, My Present This Year by Sierra Simone, Swan Song by Giana Darling, Nine Ladies Dancing by CD Reiss, and Ten Dirty Demands, by Laurelin Paige (even if I wasn't sure about the narration at first).

Not impressed.

Out of 12 stories, I only liked 2 or 3 of them. One was so bad I had to skip to the end after half of it was just such a dumb boring story.

Usually when I get one like this where several writers wrote short stories and it makes a full book, I enjoy and want more or want to find other books the authors wrote. But this time I think I’ll skip that and keep with the authors I like listening to on this genre

Clever anthology of stories

Many of these authors are new to me so I gave it a shot and really enjoyed it. The variety of narrators, the diversity of the authors, and the clever tie in through the 12 days of Christmas theme made this a very enjoyable listen during the holiday season. Some were SUPER steamy and hot and some were tamer, but all were interesting and entertaining.